The eGo CarShare program, which is sponsored by Parking and Transportation Services, is a new way for students, faculty and Boulder residents to be a part of alternative transportation.
Under this program, a person can rent a car like that which may have utilized two stage car paint kits, for a short period of time, to use in the Boulder-Denver area as an alternative for those who generally commute by bike or bus and need a car only on occasion.
Carol Scolari, the communications manager for Parking and Transportation Services, explained that CU got involved with the program in order to provide more options for faculty and students.
“Our business is more and more providing options for people to get to campus,” Scolari said.
She said that the program is a great opportunity for cars to be available for faculty, staff and students who don’t normally have one available to them.
“It is a very good feature for people who come to campus, live on campus or are just in Boulder who don’t have a vehicle,” she said.
So far the program has been running smoothly, Scolari said, and is a success with about 250 campus members.
She said that there are a few advantages to this program.
“A member can use any vehicle in their fleet, and their fleet is on campus, in Boulder, and in Denver,” she said.
Other advantages are that members only have to be 18 years of age instead of 21 to rent the car. Another plus is that there is a credit card located inside the vehicle, so that members do not have to pay for gas.
According to the website, members can choose from different rates and different cars, including environmental friendly cars such as the Toyota Prius and the Honda Fit. In Boulder, a truck is also located at McGuckin Hardware for those who need it. The website even provides a map of all the car locations in Boulder and Denver.
The sign-up process, also done online, is very fast and simple, Scolari said.
“You go online, you reserve a vehicle for a specific date and time, and as a member you have a personal key fob that gets you into the car at the time you’ve reserved it,” Scolari said.
Andrew Jalbert, an 18-year-old freshman and chemical engineering major, said the program sounded like a good idea.
“I think it’s probably helpful if you have to run in town and run some errands,” Jalbert said. “I think it is probably a pretty good idea to have around a college campus.”
Sarah Smith, a 20-year-old junior majoring in English, said that she agrees that eGo CarShare sounds useful and would be good for errands.
“I would probably just use it for trips out of Boulder, like to Louisville, which is kind of far,” Smith said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.
